


Far Cry: Annihilation (Excerpt)

by feet_first



Category: Annihilation (2018 Garland), Far Cry 5, The Southern Reach Trilogy - Jeff Vandermeer
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-09
Updated: 2018-12-09
Packaged: 2019-09-14 23:10:06
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 1
Words: 508
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16922220
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/feet_first/pseuds/feet_first
Summary: The other expeditions have failed. In an effort to finally understand Area X, and with the barrier expanding dangerously close, a different team is sent in: a deputy, a baptist, a soldier and a prophet. Time will tell if this new expedition will fare any better.





	Far Cry: Annihilation (Excerpt)

**Author's Note:**

> With the announcement of New Dawn and the similariies between the new world and Area X, I couldn't help but connect the two, which inspired this crossover. Enjoy!
> 
> Note: This is just an excerpt of the larger piece I have in mind. Any feedback would be appreciated!

The water here is thick and dark, its blackness like a twisted mirror, and its surface is made all the more impenetrable by the algae dotted across, little pockets of colour amongst the black.

I see the Baptist staring into it sometimes, like he's trying to see through it, or maybe he has other things on his mind. I don't ask about such things, not in this place. His role outside is not the same as it is in Area X, and perhaps that is what he's mourning.

The Soldier is more practical. He regularly patrols the perimeter of our base camp, small though it is, with his rifle resting but ready for whatever threat he expects, which is hard to know in an ecosystem as volatile as this. When he isn't patrolling, he tends to his gun. He is the only one to carry our stash of guns and his own - we deemed it safer this way - and his was an intimidating weapon; a rifle of metallic red with a long scope mounted on top.

He doesn't talk much in these downtimes (though we suspect he never really relaxes), deferring to the Prophet and his words, though in this place, his talk of prophecies and collapses seem distant. Area X encompasses our thoughts too much to consider the outside world or its consequences.

 

The first night we stayed here, we heard the singing. It was distant but it was there - a beautiful voice and a haunting melody. It seemed appropriate, then, that we dubbed this the Siren by the fourth night.

The Prophet seemed especially intrigued by her song and the next morning, he confronts us.

"Should we not investigate Siren?" he says, "It could be a survivor of the last expedition."

I'm skeptical, but I don't say so. My opinion is skewed by my want to explore the Tower - which is less a tower and more a tunnel, but tunnel sounds inaccurate in my mind too - we found last night before sunset. 

The Baptist steps in instead, his features carefully arranged into a look of doubt. 

"Even if it is a survivor, we don't know how this place has changed them."

"Isn't that our purpose here, to study the change?"

If he's irritated by this, he doesn't show it. "We don't know where she is."

The Soldier shifts in the chair then, folds his arms across his chest. "I can find her."

"Can and should are different things." The Baptist chastises and looks back across the marshlands, to the black pool of water, before his eyes flick back. "Okay. Yes."

The Prophet gives a tight smile that's trying to be warm and places a hand on the Baptist's shoulder. It makes me uncomfortable to see. The idea of this expedition was to keep a distance, so our views stayed objective when we looked for any changes in each other, they said. I turn away, and look to the maps we were given of Area X again instead. I still don't see the Tower marked on them.


End file.
